


Witching Hour

by kihyukie



Series: Devil I Know [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Monster Hunters, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pining, Pre-Relationship, Witches, but like its not them so dont worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:02:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29047350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kihyukie/pseuds/kihyukie
Summary: Jisung wakes up the next morning and realizes how quiet it is.At first he just chalks it up to the fact that this hotel room doesn't have a fridge, the television is off, and they're on the south side pretty far away from the road. Maybe it's early enough that vehicles aren't passing by every second rushing from one place to another while Jisung and Renjun sleep off one hell of a night. But there's sunlight streaming through the gap between the curtain and the wall and then Jisung watches as Renjun rolls onto his side in the bed and Jisung can't hear the shift of the blankets or Renjun's content exhale as he relaxes into the blankets once again or his own breath and oh god, oh fuck, Jisung can't hear anything.(or: jisung gets hexed and renjun saves the day)
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Park Jisung
Series: Devil I Know [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2131023
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44





	Witching Hour

**Author's Note:**

> whats up i slipped into another plane of existence and wrote this in a sitting so apologies for any errors! 
> 
> tw for violence, blood/injuries, weapons (but none is it is super explicit) and anxiety

Jisung has been hunting—tracking, researching, following— the witch for a month before he decides to tell Renjun about it.

Ideally, he'd like to go after her alone, the less people involved the better, but Jisung knew his chances against her weren't looking too great. Given her trail of victims, Jisung figured some backup would be nice, his parents didn't need to lose their only son left if Jisung had anything to do about it.

"So what's the plan?" Renjun asks after Jisung fills him in on all the information he's managed to collect through newspaper clippings and blog posts from sketchy conspiracy sites online. There aren't many tales of those who survived hostile witches, but he'll work with what he can get his hands on in hopes that he'll be able to add to the living accounts later on.

Jisung isn't honestly too sure what his plan is and he tells Renjun as much. For everything he's gone after a witch is new territory—although it probably can't be worse than the wraith he had to face last summer. He had been out of commission for nearly two weeks after Renjun found him (thank the lord). At least it had been summer so he didn't have to worry about falling horribly behind in all his classes or anything and his parents believed him when he told them Jeno invited him to his family's lake cabin for the week. When in reality, Renjun was nursing him back to health one can of chicken noodle soup at a time in a stuffy hotel room.

Since then Renjun had demanded to be made part of any hunt Jisung planned on, which he figured was fair.

Plus it felt nice to know he had someone watching his back, someone who was fully on his side.

"There wasn't much I could find across her victims aside from their gruesome deaths and the fact they all died alone in their houses with all the doors and windows locked."

Renjun picks up the journal that Jisung slides across the desk to him and if the grimace on his face is anything to go by, Jisung figures Renjun agrees with his previous statement.

"You seriously want to go after her?" Renjun asks, putting down the journal.

"The alternative is letting more people die."

"A very real possibility is you being one of them."

And yeah, Jisung is trying to not think about that thank you very much.

"I'm not sitting around and letting her get away with anything else," he says, definite and final and hoping that Renjun won't try to argue anymore.

"Okay, you need a plan then."

Jisung breaths out a sigh of relief. "Why do you think I called you?"

In the end they decide on arming themselves with iron handcuffs, the bat Jisung decked out in nails that helped him take down a rather nasty spirit a while back, and Jisung's trusty dagger that's currently strapped to his leg. Renjun's got a pistol on him—Jisung isn't too sure how or where he managed to get his hand on it and honestly he's not too sure if it'll do anything against the witch, but it's a bit of a comfort to have.

"Witches are human anyways aren't they? So it should work if needed," Renjun comments when he notices Jisung eyeing up the gun and yeah, Jisung can't argue with that.

"Let's hope we don't need it," Jisung swallows grimly.

Realistically, knew the things he hunted were murderers and deserved what they had coming for them, but sometimes all Jisung could think about was the fact that some of them were human and he wasn't any better than them for having his own share of kills even if he knew he was just preventing more from taking place. But one life for the good of many right?

And so Jisung pushed on.

"You said she lives alone right?"

Jisung nods. "She's the only one I've ever seen going in and out of this place. Probably doesn't want others up in her witchy business."

"Can't blame her for that."

That earns a snort from Jisung. "It's safe to say she's working alone too."

"Ready?" Renjun asks and Jisung is suddenly very glad he’s not ever facing the unknown by himself.

"As I'll ever be."

The house stands tall and quiet as the two boys approach. Jisung can't see any lights on, but that doesn't mean nobody is home. The car she drives is parked out front, which means that hopefully they're able to catch her sleeping. Jisung feels unfair about the odds, until he remembers she's killed at least three for seemingly no reason and someone has to stop her before the list grows. So if that someone is Jisung, then so be it.

Jisung puts a finger up to his mouth as they approach the door and watches as Renjun expertly picks the lock. He's never asked where the older got so good at it, but he's just greatful it's a skill Renjun had because god knows his hands are too fucking shaky for that. They would be here well into next week if Jisung was the one in charge of picking the lock. Instead, Renjun has it within seconds and when the door creaks open Jisung winches.

The inside of the house looks normal, which sort of shakes Jisung up. If he hadn't been watching the witch's every move every day for the last month he would have thought they messed up and broke into the wrong house because it's just all too human, normal non-magical human.

But there's the faintest hint of sulfur in the air reminding Jisung that they're currently walking through the enemy's house and he looks back to make sure Renjun is still in one piece behind him, although he knows he wouldn’t miss hearing if something happened. 

He sends a thumbs-up to his partner and receives one in return.

And so they push on further.

The plan was supposed to go something like this: they would find the witch, maybe have a bit of a scuffle, but one of them eventually would be able to get the handcuffs around her wrists and well, without her powers the rest of the job would be simple.

Instead, Jisung is pushing himself off the floor and he's pretty sure there's a cut on his forehead because it feels sort of warm and sure enough when he pulls his hand back it's wet and sticky and then Renjun cries out and Jisung is scanning the room at lighting speed trying to find his friend and make sure he's okay and sure enough Renjun is on the ground, but he's breathing and there doesn't seem to be any blood so Jisung can let go of the breath he's been holding.

There's a blur out of the corner of his eye and the sound of glass breaking and then Jisung is watching as the witch jumps and okay, out of every outcome Jisung ran through in his head, the witch fleeing was not one of them.

"Renjun? Jun!" he calls out when he doesn't get an immediate response.

"Yeah, yeah, hear you loud and clear, Sung. I'm okay."

Jisung collapses to the floor at the sound of Renjun's voice. He allows himself a couple seconds to catch his breath and run through a quick metal checklist of his injuries. His arm is a little sore from stopping his fall and his lungs are burning, but nothing seems broken and even though his head is still bleeding Jisung can feel that it's shallow and head wounds are just a bitch like that.

When the witch doesn't immediately return he lets his guard down a bit and crawls on his hands and knees to where Renjun is laying on his back. He seems to be in one piece.

"Injuries?"

"I might need to see a chiropractor, but honestly, I think that werewolf had me fucked up worse than this."

"Good. Great. Glad to hear."

It's another moment before Jisung speaks up again from where he’s laying on the floor next to Renjun taking it all in and trying to figure out what to do next. 

"I'll pay for the hotel room, but since you're the one who doesn't look like they took a terrible spill on their skateboard head first into a blender, you're in charge of getting the room."

Jisung wakes up the next morning and realizes how quiet it is.

At first he just chalks it up to the fact that this hotel room doesn't have a fridge, the television is off, and they're on the south side pretty far away from the road. Maybe it's early enough that vehicles aren't passing by every second rushing from one place to another while Jisung and Renjun sleep off one hell of a night. But there's sunlight streaming through the gap between the curtain and the wall and then Jisung watches as Renjun rolls onto his side in the bed and Jisung can't hear the shift of the blankets or Renjun's content exhale as he relaxes into the blankets once again or his own breath and oh god, oh fuck, Jisung can't hear  _ anything _ .

He sits up, suddenly too warm to be under the covers and scrambles to find his phone just so he can press play on the first video that pops up when he opens YouTube. He makes sure the volume is low so as to not wake Renjun, but no matter how hard he presses the speakers to his ear he can't hear a single goddamn thing.

With wobbly legs, Jisung pushes himself up and makes it to Renjun's side. Without thinking he starts to shake Renjun awake and doesn't stop until Renjun is upright and pulling at Jisung's wrists so he'll loosen his grip on Renjun's shoulders and he's looking at Jisung fully awake and he's saying something and  _ Jisung can't hear _ .

"I can't hear you," Jisung says. He wonders if his voice sounds as scared as he is. By the way Renjun freezes and pales he'll take that as a yes.

_ You're okay,  _ Renjun says or maybe he just mouths it, but that much Jisung can understand. Jisung isn't sure if he meant it as a question or statement but he nods either way because while he can't hear, everything else seems to be fine. He's sore sure, but that just comes with the job and it's not any worse than it was last night which is always a good sign; the second day is usually the worst anyways.

So yes, theoretically, Jisung is okay.

Without skipping a beat, Renjun jumps out of bed and rustles around through his bag until he produces a small notepad and pencil and makes his way back to where Jisung is kneeling on the floor next to the twin bed Renjun was sleeping in.

_ can you hear anything? _

Jisung shakes his head no. Renjun scowels and Jisung pushes two fingers to his forehead until Renjun's frown smooths out.

"You're gonna turn into a wrinkly old hag."

_ shut up _ , Renjun writes, but Jisung can see the wide smile on his face. He doesn't need his hearing to see Renjun's happiness.

Renjun turns the notepad back to Jisung:  _ how long? _

"Since I woke up. Maybe longer, but I wouldn't know."

_ how's your head? _ Renjun points towards the gash sitting right above Jisung's right eyebrow and oh right, that was a thing.

"It's fine. I honestly forgot about it until now."

That's apparently good enough for Renjun because he changes the subject back to the matter at hand. _ do you think this has anything to do with the witch? _

That's when it clicks and Jisung is up again, this time to find his journal and the newspaper clippings pressed between the pages. It takes him a moment to find the right page, but yeah, yeah Jisung is pretty sure this has something to do with the witch. If the timing of his sudden deafness wasn't obvious enough, the evidence of her first victim is damning—he was found dead in his own home, broken glass lodged in his arms and legs and stomach from a broken glass coffee table. He bled out on his floor, alone and completely blind. 

Odd thing was that everyone who knew him claimed he had perfect eyesight and had never had to wear glasses in his life. 

Now there's a sick feeling in Jisung's stomach and suddenly he's thankful he hasn't had anything to eat yet because it would definitely be making another appearance. Before he can even reach out for Renjun from the floor there's a hand running through his hair and Renjun uses his other one to press Jisung's hand to his chest. It takes Jisung's mind a moment to catch up and realize that Renjun is trying to get him to breathe in time with his own deep breaths. Jisung hadn't even realized he was hyperventilating, shaking like he had just spent the last hour standing in a torrential downpour.

With his free hand, Renjun tilts Jisung's head up so he can clearly read Renjun's lips as he says  _ breathe _ .

So Jisung does just that. He takes breath after shakey breath, trying to match the slow, calm rise and fall of Renjun's chest and honestly Jisung has no clue how the fuck the other boy is so calm right now, but he appriciates it none the less. Hell, he's gonna treat Renjun to meals for the rest of the month once they make it out of this mess alive.

Soon enough Jisung's breathing has evened out and his chest feels lighter and his head a bit clearer. Except Renjun's hand is still running through his hair, so Jisung's heart is still rocketing a bit faster than normal. He pays it no mind.

"I think this," Jisung reaches for his ears and if it weren't for the fact that the nerves in his fingers still work completely fine Jisung wouldn't have even been aware he was touching his ears. He forces another deep breath. "I think it's a warning."

Renjun cocks his head to the side so Jisung hands him the journal, still open to the article he's convinced is the victim of their witch.

"He couldn't see, Jun. His family said he had perfect vision his whole life but he fucking bled to death on his floor because he tripped and shatttered his glass table and the autopsy report listed both his retinas were detatched. I think he crossed the witch, angered her somehow and she hexed him and either came back to finish the job when he was weaker or waited until he drove himself mad. One of the other articles, I think, fuck—she died in her bed after a bee stung her. She was deathly allergic of course, but how could she have not felt that unless, unless— Shit. Renjun, someone died of a gas leak just last month, they lit a candle and went up in flames with it. I—I bet it's because they couldn't fucking smell. Oh my god. And I—I'm—"

_ I'm next, _ he thinks, but is too terrified to say.

Jisung is worked up again by the time he finishes and he finds his palm pressed against Renjun's chest. It's all too much and the room is spinning so Jisung screws his eyes shut and focuses on the rise and fall of Renjun's chest.

He only opens his eyes when he feels a tap on his shoulder.

_ so it's a hex right?  _ Renjun's handwriting asks and since when could you find someone's handwriting pretty? Jisung wonders.

"Most likely."

_ so then we find the bag/coin/object?? and burn it _

"Yeah, before she decides to show her ugly face again." Jisung looks around the room and pushes himself off the floor, ignoring how bad his legs protest from how long they just spent tucked under his body. "It's gotta be somewhere in here. It needs to be close to the vi—person it's intended for, for it to work. At least that's what I read."

They spend the next two hours tearing apart the hotel room only to come up empty handed aside from the winning scratch ticket Renjun found under his bed so hey, at least now they're $7 richer. Jisung might not be able to hear, but they can afford ice cream for dinner and all Jisung can think about is how mint chocolate chip ice cream isn't a bad last meal.

He'd joke about it if it weren't for Renjun currently tearing a warpath through the room looking for the goddamn hex bag and it's comforting to know that as calm as he was before, Renjun is taking this just as seriously as Jisung.

At some point Jisung stops to text his parents and let them know that he crashed at Renjun's last night and that they're having a movie marathon so he might stay the night again and they tell him it's fine, but he better be doing his homework and that they love him and Jisung wants nothing more than to call them and be able to hear them say it, but he can't, he can't, he can't.

So instead he curls up on the floor until Renjun notices and makes his way over and lifts Jisung's head so at least it's in his lap and not on the filthy hotel floor and there's a hand in his hair again and now Jisung can't stop his heart racing for a whole other reason, but thinking about this is easier than thinking about never hearing his parents voices again so he lies there and let's Renjun take care of him.

It's dark outside when Jisung comes to again and it only takes him a moment to realize that miraculously he's in his bed, not on the floor like he last remembers and god, the fact that Renjun was somehow able to get his gangly limbs into bed has Jisung flushing. There's a light flickering which Jisung assumes is coming from the television, but fuck if he knows because he still can't hear.

He groans, at least he thinks he does, and rolls over. Relief washes over him as he seems Renjun asleep in the bed, propped up against the wall. It's easy to guess he fell asleep while on watch for Jisung which is sweet, but understandable since Jisung woke him up and sent him into a panic probably way earlier than he was expecting this morning.

There's an uncomfortable feeling in Jisung's chest as he realizes he's honestly not too sure how much longer he has. Who knows how long the other victims went without their senses, although judging by the evidence, Jisung figures the witch probably came back the next night to finish up the job, which means he doesn't have long left at all to find the hex bag except for the fact that they've torn apart everything in the room twice without luck.

But all he has to think about is Johnny and his parents and Renjun and their other friends and Jisung knows that he isn't about to let some witch take that away from him.

So trying to be as quiet as possible without having any sense to judge with, Jisung slips out of their hotel room and into the night. He's halfway down the stairs when he realizes that he probably should have grabbed Renjun's gun, but his knife will have to do. In all honesty, he's not too sure where his feet are taking him, but then he’s standing outside their room looking up to the second floor where he can still see the flickering light bouncing off the walls and then when the television goes white for a split second he sees it.

Taped to the wall and out of the sight of the window is a small black clump that Jisung can only assume is the hex bag they've been going insane looking for and  _ why didn't they think to look outside _ ?

The sense of victory is short-lived as Jisung realizes there's no way he's able to scale up the wall to get the bag down and burn it. Hell, he's not even sure how the witch got it up there in the first place, but it sure is a clever place, he'll give her that much.

That only leaves Jisung with one option and as much as he dreads it, it's infinitely better than any other option currently buzzing around in his mind, and really, it should have been acted out last night, so Jisung turns to make the trek back up to where Renjun and his gun are waiting.

Twenty minutes and two cups of coffee later Jisung is in the passenger seat, bouncing as Renjun drives down the gravel road with a sense of urgency that Jisung has never seen. The fact that it's for him is sort of heartwarming and would be infinitely more so if it were in any other scenario in which Jisung's life wasn't on the line.

Or maybe that's what makes it humbling because Renjun is willing to bend the laws for him and if the events of the evening go anything how Jisung is imagining, Renjun is ready to kill for him, but then Jisung has to remind himself that he would go to the ends of the earth for any of his friends, Renjun included, so maybe it isn't anything deeper than that.

The difference though is that Jisung wants to kiss Renjun. He  _ really _ wants to kiss Renjun and he's sure as hell not dying before he gets the chance to so when they pull up to the house, Jisung steps out of the car with a new purpose and matches towards his doom.

This time when they reach the door it swings open without Renjun having to work his magic and Jisung knows that's a horrible sign, but he still hopes that maybe she just absentmindedly forgot to lock the door before bed.

He can't hear the door creak open this time.

Jisung feels a tap on his shoulder and looks over to find Renjun giving him a thumbs up and yeah, Jisung is so done with not being able to hear a damn thing so he smiles and shoots back a thumbs up.

_ Wait _ , Renjun mouths and anxiety immediately swirls throughout Jisung's body because this whole time he never thought about the fact that he was going to have to fight while being at a disadvantage where anything could sneak up on him and _ did Renjun hear something _ ?

While he waits for an attack that never comes, Renjun moves in front of Jisung and lifts the younger boys hand until Jisung gets the idea and grabs onto the back of Renjun's shirt like his life depends on it, which is not too far from the truth yet way too close for comfort. 

_ Breathe _ , Renjun mouths, and Jisung sucks in air like he's a dying man.  _ I've got you. _

And then they're moving again and Jisung is frankly terrified but Renjun is there and he's got Jisung and Jisung desperately hopes that that’s enough.

She's waiting for them in the kitchen and Jisung spots her first so he tugs on the back of Renjun's shirt and without question the older stops and because they're so close Jisung can feel the moment Renjun spots her too with a quick intake of breath. 

It's in the same moment that she notices them too. She stands to her full witchy glory (which is still shorter than Jisung thank you very much) and says something like "I've been waiting for you" with a wicked grin on her face that lets Jisung know that, yes, she's very aware she's got the upper hand and then all of a sudden it makes sense.

She's weak.

She's no match for Renjun and Jisung and she wasn't a match for anyone who wronged her in the past which is why she's resorted to hexing because otherwise she can't win and Jisung breaths out a sigh of relief because while he can't be sure, he's pretty certain he has something the others didn't.

He's got a partner in crime. He's got Renjun, alive and well and all senses intact, next to him. He's got Renjun on his side and the witch doesn't and then the witch is frowning and Jisung can't quite figure out why until he puts a hand up to his mouth and realizes he's grinning wide because yeah, they're going to be alright.

"Jun," Jisung makes sure to lean in so only Renjun can hear him. He can only hope he's actually whispering enough for Renjun to hear him, but judging by the way he leans back into Jisung's space it's loud enough to have gotten his attention.

"On three, go to the left. Get her handcuffed to that table no matter what."

Renjun nods so minutely that Jisung can only tell because Renjun’s hair brushes against the side of his face when he moves, but it's all that Jisung needs and without hesitation he taps three times on Renjun's back and then he launches himself towards the witch like he's a rocket headed for outer space.

It's muscle memory at this point, but Jisung has his knife in his hand by the time he's arms distance from the witch and he takes a swing at her legs. The hit doesn't connect but Jisung doesn't care because in her attempt to avoid him she moved close enough that Renjun was able to clamp one handcuff around her wrist. 

Jisung smiles when he catches Renjun's eye because they make a pretty damn good team together and it's moments like this that really make it clear for Jisung.

The fight takes them a couple more minutes, in which Jisung loses his knife somewhere across the room after a rather harsh kick to the arm, but he doesn't let that deter him. He wastes no time in centering himself again so the witch and Renjun are both his line of sight, because really this could be worse and he can tell both of them are panting, but that's good because that means she's worn down and they're close to being done and then Jisung can go back to hearing Renjun laugh again without another care in the world.

There's a flash of silver as the witch all but launches herself at Jisung and he thinks if she were to live past tonight he would tell her to get better at magic so she wouldn't have to fight hand-to-hand since it's obviously not her forte, but Jisung still scrambles to get out of her way but not before he trips over a chair.

And then he's on the ground and she's on him and not only can he not hear a fucking thing but now he can't fucking breathe.

So he does what he does best: he fights. 

He trashes under her and tries to push her off, but he's too lanky and she's got a knee pinning his one wrist to the floor but he still scratches at her face with his other one. It doesn't matter through because she's relentless and at one point she leans even more of her weight forward and there's spots in Jisung's vision and he knows that's not good but he can't do anything to stop it so he just closes his eyes and lets it happen and where the fuck is Renjun.

All in all, Jisung thinks it's pretty lame he's about to die without ever getting to kiss his crush.

But then there's air in his lungs and warm blood on his face that he's pretty sure isn't his and the weight is being lifted off him and then there's hands on his shoulders and his face and his neck, but gentle this time, caring, and on top of it all he can hear Renjun's voice high and broken calling out his name.

Then there's a rush of blood in his ears but through it still he can hear Renjun saying his name and if that isn't the best damn thing Jisung has ever heard in his short seventeen years.

_ I'm okay, it's okay, we're okay, _ Jisung wants to say, but instead all that comes out is "I love your voice" except it's creaky and even more broken than Renjun's because Jisung just had his life squeezed out of him and his throat hurts like hell.

"Is she..." Jisung manages to get out before breaking out into a rather nasty cough that leaves his throat burning and tears in his eyes. He gulps down a couple deep breaths. 

"Yeah.” Renjun looks over to where Jisung assumes the body of the witch is lying crumpled on the floor. “Turns out a knife to the back of the head is pretty effective on witches, so make sure to add that to your journal."

Jisung smiles weakly and lets himself be held by Renjun for a little bit longer because he's tired and sore and nearly just died before he forces himself into a sitting position and surveys the boy in front of him for any damage.

It's like Renjun can read his mind because he just smiles warmly and tells Jisung a few cuts and bruises never hurt anyone, but insists they're going to the hospital the second after they burn this body and for once Jisung isn't opposed to it.

"I need help," Jisung manages to wheeze out once they're in the backyard watching the flames in front of them crawl up to the sky.

Immediately there are hands guiding him to the ground and Renjun’s muttering  _ sit down before you pass out you idiot _ , because he's oh so good and Jisung tries to laugh but all that comes out is another wheeze and Renjun looks over, concern written on his face.

Jisung gestures to his neck, which according to Renjun is already black and blue and swollen, which Jisung believes because he can barely move his head. "What am I going to tell my parents?"

**Author's Note:**

> i had a lot of fun writing this honestly hence writing it all at once and im hoping to come back and make it into a bit of a series because there's a lot i want to add to this verse and build on...so if ur wondering why there are some gaps or seemingly no context thats why! we'll get there eventually
> 
> anyways i'd love to hear ur feedback on it since it's pretty different from anything else i've written!!! 
> 
> thanks a ton for taking the time to read it, i hope it was enjoyable <3 
> 
> visit me on [twt](https://twitter.com/honeyhaech)


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